A Very Dark Christmas
by MaxInu23
Summary: Trouble seemed to follow Sora, or maybe Sora followed it. Either way, it's Christmas time again, and as per usual, something is up in Halloween Town, and it isn't Oogie Boogie. What is it that's causing all this trouble?


Halloween Town, a place where ghouls, vampires, witches, and things of children's nightmares live, was currently preparing for this year's Christmas. The usual dreary red, black, and slimy green color scheme was replaced with red, green, and white. Of course, everything still had that sinister flare to it.

Sora loved visiting Halloween Town around Christmas, because not only could he badger Santa about his presents, he also got to see his friends. Although, sometimes when he visited something had gone wrong, or was in the process of going wrong. Like last year, Oogie Boogie had come back, and was ruining everything.

This year everything seemed to be going well, Jack was still dreaming about helping Santa, and Lock, Shock, and Barrel were up to their usual shenanigans, though Santa had found a way to keep them out of his factory.

Sora had brought Riku with him this time, so he wouldn't be left alone on the island while Kairi was off with her family for Christmas. Donald and Goofy couldn't come for the same reason.

When they had first arrived, Riku had been surprised when his clothes changed. Instead of his usual outfit, he was wearing black and red stitched pants, a black tank-top, gloves, a spiky red bracelet, a red choker, pointy yellow and black boots that reminded Sora of a bee, and to finish off the look, he had devil horns and a tail.

They had walked into town as soon as Riku had stopped examining his new outfit. Halloween Town was a flurry of activity, and if it was this busy Sora couldn't imagine how busy Christmas Town was. Jack was the first person to meet them, as per usual.

"Hi guys!" He yelled, waving with a bone thin arm. He stopped by them, standing a few inches taller than both Riku and Sora. "What brings you here?"

"Just visiting!" Sora said, smiling brightly. Riku looked up at Jack; he figured this must've been the famous Jack Skellington he'd heard about.

Jack finally noticed Riku standing beside Sora, and he grinned his toothy grin. "Who are you?"

"I'm Riku," he said, standing up a little taller.

"Well then Riku, welcome to Halloween Town!" Jack yelled, gesturing towards the town. "I'll have to introduce you to Sally and the Mayor." He muttered as he began walking back into town, expecting Sora and Riku to follow him.

Sora looked over at Riku, "Let's go see if you're on the nice list!" He said jokingly, running over to follow Jack. Riku laughed and followed behind him.

"So Jack, how have things been while we were gone?" Sora asked, not one for silence.

"Good, Oogie Boogie hasn't showed back up." That was a positive thing, but the way Jack said it made it seem like something else was up.

"Is there something else wrong?" Riku asked, looking around. Something didn't feel right.

Jack opened his mouth, as if to speak, but was interrupted by the Mayor, who had his scared face on. "Jack! Jack! Jack, something's wrong with the portal to Christmas Town! We can't get through!"

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, crouching down and looking the Mayor in the eye.

"There was an elf that came through, saying something had happened in Christmas Town! We went to the portal to try to go see what it was, and the door wouldn't budge!" The Mayor was freaking out, he was just an elected official, what was he supposed to do? "This has never happened before!"

"Calm down Mr. Mayor," Jack said, crouching down beside Sora. "Did the elf say anything else?"

"No," the Mayor said, shaking his head. Jack stood up, looking towards the direction of the Forest of Doors.

"I want to talk to that elf…" Jack said, walking towards town, the Mayor hobbling after him.

"Well Sora, seems like trouble does follow you." Riku said, messing up Sora's hair.

"It does not!" Sora protested, not noticing the big black shadow that was forming behind him.

Riku noticed first, and he pulled Sora out of the way of the claw that came crashing down where Sora had been standing.

"Thanks," Sora said, summoning his keyblade and getting into his fighting position.

"Don't mention it," Riku said, summoning his keyblade also.

The heartless stood up to its full height, muscles bulging and yellow eyes filled with sinister intent. The shadows seemed to wrap around it, sucking up what little light there used to be. The heartless pounded the ground, and Sora and Riku charged.

Sora jumped up, and began attacking its head. Riku stayed down a little lower and attacked its hand and torso. They jumped back, and the heartless unleashed a dark explosive orb.

"Final blow!" Sora yelled. They ran forward, bringing their keyblades up and then down on the heartless' head at the same time. The heartless seemed to pause for minute, before it fell to the ground with a thump. It melted into a puddle of darkness, and a glowing white key appeared.

"What is that?" Riku asked, keyblade vanishing.

"I don't know," Sora responded, walking over and picking it up. "It looks like a key…. Do you think it goes to Christmas' Town door?"

"Maybe," Riku said, "We won't know until we try."

"Then let's go!" Sora yelled, jumping up and running toward the Forest of Doors. Riku shook his head and followed behind him.

The elf was shaking, it was terrified. It huddled up in the corner, trying to escape from something that wasn't there. "The dark is coming, it's invading…" It kept muttering that over and over, and Jack didn't know what to do to help it.

"The darkness is coming?" He kept asking, trying to calm the little elf, though he knew his appearance wasn't helping anything.

The elf continued to shake, rocking back and forth. Jack noticed something on the elf's arm, a black spot that was slowing spreading, turning its pretty red suit into a black shadowy thing. Jack recognized that stuff, it was the same stuff a heartless was made out of, but did that mean the elf was turning into a heartless?

The dark spot continued to spread, and it wasn't just on the elf's suit, it was on his skin too. It was up to his neck now, looking like a dark splotchy bruise. The elf had stopped rocking now, and was just staring into space.

Jack had a bad feeling. "Mr. Mayor?" He asked, looking behind him, "Do we have any cages left from last Halloween?"

"Yes, quite a few, why?" The Mayor asked, going to grab one from the pile in the opposite corner.

"I may need one…" Jack was still watching the elf, who was nearly almost black, there was just a little spot of red left on its hat, and even that was quickly vanishing. The Mayor hurried back over, cage in his hand.

Jack grabbed it and put the elf in it, right as the last spot of red vanished. The elf's eyes slowly began to turn yellow, and a heart appeared above its head. It shrunk down into the shadowy corner of its cage, trying to escape.

Jack's theory was right; the elf had been turning into a heartless, the question now was why?


End file.
